Small hands

Joel has discovered how things feel. He is moving his chubby little fingers over everything they come in contact with. He loves reaching up to our faces to feel them. Jav reminded me that Gabriel went though a stage where his little hand would open and close on our shoulders whenever we held him. I remembered him doing that alot when we took him to his first Ranger Game. Joel has learned to comfort himself, and even put himself to sleep, by opening and closing his hand on top of his head. I didn't even realize this was happening until I found tons of scratches on his head one day. I now make a point to trim his nails every week. The other night when he was having some tummy trouble that woke him up, I was rocking him and he reached his little hand up and started feeling my chin, ever so gently. So, so sweet!

He wants to roll over to his tummy every single time I put him on his back. Gone now are the days of putting him down for a few minutes on a bed while I run to start a load of laundry. He had an unfortunate experience of rolling off of his activity mat and onto our rug that needed a good vacuuming from all the shedded pet hair. When I got him turned over it looked like he had a beard! He had his first experience of bellying-over to a toy he wanted to play with yesterday, and it was a good four feet away from him. He's ready to move! And the more he moves, the more delighted his brother is to realize that this little lump that we brought home is actually going to be able to play with him one day.

The game they play right now is the "Stinky Feet" game. Gabriel will grab one of Joel's feet, sniff it, and then yell, "Pew wee!!!" And both of them laugh. I tried pointing out to Gabriel that Joel's feet smell waaaaayyyyy better than his since he never wears shoes (I refuse to put them on him until I have to). But Gabriel doesn't pay any attention to me and just keeps on having fun.